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War, disastrous sex and a lot of lawsuits: the chaotic aftermath of Motown’s peak years
Disenchanted with Motown, star songwriters Holland-Dozier-Holland set up a pair of bold new labels: Hot Wax and Invictus. As a new box set is released, its artists remember their personal, political songs – and exhausting battles
Motown Records famously churned out songs like cars on an assembly line, and songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland (HDH) – brothers Eddie and Brian Holland, and the late Lamont Dozier – built some of the company’s most gleaming, purring models, writing smashes such as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas’ Heat Wave, the Four Tops’ Reach Out I’ll Be There, and 10 of the Supremes’ 12 US chart-toppers. Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesSo Hot Wax/Invictus diversified their roster beyond Motown archetypes, signing George Clinton’s psychedelic funk outfit Parliament, as well as white rock acts such as the Flaming Ember and English singer Ruth Copeland. Find out what he wants and let it go.’” Dozier writes that he was eventually freed of his contracts with Hot Wax/Invictus at the cost of relinquishing his ownership share of those companies, but the trio would reunite to work with the Four Tops in the 1980s after the iconic group returned to Motown.
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